Over the weekend, I read from Hosea, chapter 9, verse 15:
All their wickedness [is] in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes [are] revolters.
Here, Hosea continues to take up the case against the northern tribes, who had, among other places, erected false places of worship at Gilgal. Now Gilgal historically had precedence as a place of worship among the Israelites, as there was erected in the earliest days of the conquest of Canaan a place of worship. However, once the temple came to be, no other place of worship was approved of God. Thus the worship which took place among the ten tribes at Gilgal was utterly wicked, both in terms of mode (syncretistic Baal-worship) and place.
Calvin notes, regarding the promised ejection of this people:
He then adds, "I will eject them from my house". When God threatens to eject Israel from his house, it is the same as though he said, "I will wholly cast you away;" as when one cuts off a withered branch from a tree, or a diseased member from the body. It is indeed certain that the Israelites were then like bastards; for they were not worthy of any account or station in the Church, inasmuch as they had a strange temple and profane sacrifices; but as circumcision, and the priesthood in name, still remained among them, they boasted themselves to be the children of Abraham, and a holy people; hence the Prophet denounces here such a destruction, that it might appear that they in vain gloried in these superior distinctions, for God would expunge them from his catalogue.
Then, as now, people feel 'safe' if they can name themselves as 'the people of God'. Then, and in Christ's day, those who considered themselves 'untouchable' by the hand of God were those of physical descent from Abraham. Today, it seems that this 'invincibility' extends well beyond the bounds of the church, and into society at large. This is reflected in the numbers of people who believe they will be in heaven after death - the percentage is staggerlingly high. Nobody believes they are due just punishment for their sins (as most people believe that nothing they do warrants punishment from God - "I've never KILLED anybody").
The attack here, though, in Calvin's words, is not on the fools outside the church - they are clearly condemned. Rather, the attack is on those within the church, who, because of their affiliation with it, claim salvation. He is calling upon us, as he often does, to examine ourselves... to see if we are in the faith - not by mode of practice, but by where our ultimate resting place is. Have we set our eyes on Christ? Do we rest in him, or in our behaviours, or in church ceremony, or even simply in church "label" attached to our nametags? Are we guilty of "Abrahamism" - considering ourselves safe because of our attachment to the church? It's worth thinking about.... the warnings in Scripture are plentiful against this grievous sin.
Posted by toddpedlar at August 30, 2004 06:32 AM | TrackBack